Correcting History

I was reading the biography of a trans activist and was surprised by the statement that in 1992, she "lobbied America Online to change its policies and allow discussions on gender issues on their service. This led to the creation of the first public forum on a major online service, the Transgender Community Forum, one year later" (1993).

I majored in history and I am old enough that I was alive and kicking when some histories were made. And it bothers me when someone tries to rewrite history (like the so-called "historians" who tried to write transwomen out of the Stonewall uprising).

In this case, America Online's transgender forum was not the first public forum on a major online service... not by a long shot.

Anyone remember a transgender forum called Genderline on a major online service called Compuserve?

I recall joining Genderline in the mid-1980's. After doing some research, I found that Genderline goes back to at least 1986 when Jennifer Wells was its section leader. According to my math, that predates America Online's transgender forum by seven years!

And so it goes.

Wearing Veronica Beard (Source: Veronica Beard)

Kaitlynn femulates Black Widow for Halloween (Send me your Halloween costume photo and I will feature it in the Femulator spot, just as I did today with Kaitlynn's costume photo.)